Jan 4 The Noodle Maker

I cut through the edge of Korean Town and Kabuki-cho on my way to Shinjuku Station in Tokyo the other evening after shooting in Golden Gai. I stopped to watch a chinese noodle maker pulling, tossing and stretching noodles to the perfect length and thickness. This is such an interesting area for photography. It is full of so much life and subjects for photography.
Golden Gai is famous for its architectural interest as well a budding nightlife area. There are over 200 tiny shanty-style bars and restaurants within the six narrow alleys that make up Golden Gai. Most of these bars seat only 5 or 6 people in them adding to their charm. Golden Gai provides a view into the relatively recent past of Tokyo when much of the city was made up of narrow lanes and tiny two story buildings. You can check out some of my previous shots on the charm, signs and night life of Shinjuk's Golden Gai.

Kabuki-cho is the home of many hostess bars, host bars, love hots, shops, restaurants, and nightclubs. I also found a Leica shop! It is often called the 'Sleepless Town'. The district's name comes from plans in the 1940s to build a kabuki theater. The theater never came and the name never left.

Korean Town, the Korean-orientated commercial district around Shin-Okubo Station in Shinjuku, is dominated by recent immigrants from South Korea who have retained their ethic and cultural identity. There are currently about 80,000 Koreans living in Tokyo. If you didn't know you were in Tokyo, you could easily be fooled that you are in South Korea.